I’m a school secretary & Easter’s a nightmare – kids are hyper on sugar & yes, parents do put Creme Eggs in lunchboxes
WELL we have made it through another term, and the Easter holidays are officially in full swing.
Now, unless you work in a church school, Easter may only mean one thing to your students – chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate!
I should know as my school’s secretary.
Really, confectionery companies were always going to be onto a winner when the French and Germans decided that the humble chocolate egg would be the modern symbol of Jesus Christ’s resurrection.
However, this absolute explosion of chocolate in every shop does not help school staff in managing children at this time of year, and can make the Spring term feel never-ending.
The merest sniff of cacao can send the children as high as kites, and that, coupled with the fact they are going to be having two weeks off in the very near future, can make teaching a class of sugar hyped children as difficult as wrangling a gaggle of volatile monkeys.
read more on easter
The problem is, even in school chocolate cannot be escaped: a plethora of Easter displays fill the classrooms and corridors; weary teachers plan crafty afternoons making collages with shiny egg wrappers (big shout-out to those staff who make the ultimate sacrifice and eat the aforementioned eggs to provide the wrappers!); even colouring pages feature example after example of brilliantly patterned eggs, building the children up to a crescendo of excitement.
What compounds the problem is actually school itself.
For a multitude of reasons staff will find themselves bringing chocolate into school.
Maybe it is bribes for the children, either for improving attendance towards the end of term or revising for the dreaded upcoming SATs, raffles to win an Easter basket, or the inevitable chocolate tombola to raise school funds where children are quite happy to spend £3 to try and win one crème egg.
Most read in Fabulous
The tombola invariably raises problems with some parents; while they are quite happy to send their offspring to school with a boatload of change to try and win something, when little Johnny does come home with the smallest egg imaginable, it is immediately the school’s fault.
Parents, this is the risk with a tombola – if you are that bothered about your child having a particular treat, just buy it in the first place!
Of course, every school is going to say that they believe in a healthy balance and no child is going to have too much chocolate.
In reality, every other student is finding ways to sneak some into their lunchboxes or snack without the dinner staff noticing.
The resulting sugar rush at breaktime and lunchtime leads to the inevitable afternoon slump – and that’s just the staff.
Children become irritable and tired, which in turns leads to poor behaviour choices and bullish attitudes. It’s no wonder the number of detentions issued has a sharp uptick at this time of year!
If we’re really unlucky, the slump can follow us into the new term; too many eggs over the holidays can leave children facing a sugar comedown, craving chocolate and sweets from breakfast club onwards.
In short, the end of the Spring term goes out with both a bang and a fizzle. Staff are both exhausted from managing children who are high on sugar and life, and ironically broke from buying Easter eggs every other day, and children have yo-yoing emotions from all the excitement and copious amounts of treats.
If on the other hand your child does attend a church school, they may instead be treated to a member of their local clergy detailing exactly what happens during a crucifixion. They may need some chocolate after that.